What kind of mattress helps prevent bedsores?

There’s no single mattress to recommend. Mattress pads, some water- or air-filled, are among the things used to reduce pressure, and the right choice depends on the wound and the setting — discuss it with your provider.

Here it’s more useful to be clear about what can be said than to give an answer shaped like the question.

There’s no specific mattress to recommend. Mattress pads, along with pillows, foam cushions and booties, are things to use to reduce the pressure, and some pads are water- or air-filled to help support and cushion the area. A pad goes on a bed. It is not the bed.

The choice depends on the wound itself, and on whether the person is in bed or in a wheelchair. Talk with your health care provider about what choices would be best for you, including what shapes and types of material. No particular mattress or type is named as the right one or the wrong one.

That’s worth saying plainly, because specialist mattresses and overlays are expensive and sold with confident claims. There’s no general answer on which of them is best. The people who can answer that are the ones who can see the wound and the bed.

What is specific is everything that happens on top of whatever surface is there. Repositioning: if you are in bed, you should move or be moved about every 2 hours. Friction: avoid slipping or sliding as you move positions, and try to avoid positions that put pressure on your sore. And one bedding instruction with a condition attached: lightly dust your bedsheet with medicated talc powder to prevent further friction between your skin and the sheet — but only if your pressure sore is not an open wound.

A surface helps. It is never the whole answer.

What to watch for

One bedding instruction comes with a condition: lightly dust your bedsheet with medicated talc powder to prevent further friction between your skin and the sheet, and only do this if your pressure sore is not an open wound.

Check your skin for pressure sores every day, and ask your caregiver or someone you trust to check areas you cannot see. If your pressure sore changes or a new one forms, tell your provider.

No surface removes the need to change position. In bed, you should move or be moved about every 2 hours.

Wound Wizard is general education and can’t assess a person, a wound, or a bed. The clinician caring for them is the right person to ask before buying equipment.

What we look at

  • Examining the skin over bony areas
  • Assessing the bed surface the person is using
  • Recommending a pad or support surface and material
  • Advising a repositioning routine alongside it

Sources

  1. How to care for pressure sores — MedlinePlus, U.S. National Library of Medicine https://www.medlineplus.gov/ency/patientinstructions/000740.htm